Dame Shirley Bassey held a glittering reception at The Ritz hotel to launch her new album, her first in 20 years.
Special guests were invited to the London hotel to hear a preview of The Performance, which will be released on November 9.
The Welsh singer, famous for singing Bond-film themes such as Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, asked songwriters including Gary Barlow to provide songs for the album.
Take That frontman Barlow said: ''I was asked in January to write a song, but I heard there were loads of other great people writing songs too, so I didn't really do much about it.
''I didn't so much think my song would be rejected, but I did think they would definitely take the very best songs that were offered.
''I kept trying though, I tried about three times but nothing was quite right, so I went on Wikipedia and starting reading all about her life story. That's when I decided to make the song a conclusion of that and came up with This Time.
''She's got that massive voice, and I could hear that as I was writing the song. It's impossible not to.''
Other songs on The Performance, Dame Shirley's first new studio album in 20 years, were provided by Rufus Wainwright, KT Tunstall, Nick Hodgson from the Kaiser Chiefs and Richard Hawley, who were also all in attendance tonight.
Barlow said he didn't enjoy the competition of writing alongside such other artists, and despite his success with Take That, was nervous when presenting his song to Dame Shirley.
''I just wanted to hand in the song on a tape, but producer David Arnold said I had to go and play it for her on the piano, which I really didn't want to do. I was so nervous,'' he said.
He also added he hoped his career would last as long as that of the Cardiff-born star.
''She's 72, and I'm only 38 so I've got a few years left in me I hope. I can definitely imagine still writing songs when I'm the same age as the Dame.''
Special guests were invited to the London hotel to hear a preview of The Performance, which will be released on November 9.
The Welsh singer, famous for singing Bond-film themes such as Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, asked songwriters including Gary Barlow to provide songs for the album.
Take That frontman Barlow said: ''I was asked in January to write a song, but I heard there were loads of other great people writing songs too, so I didn't really do much about it.
''I didn't so much think my song would be rejected, but I did think they would definitely take the very best songs that were offered.
''I kept trying though, I tried about three times but nothing was quite right, so I went on Wikipedia and starting reading all about her life story. That's when I decided to make the song a conclusion of that and came up with This Time.
''She's got that massive voice, and I could hear that as I was writing the song. It's impossible not to.''
Other songs on The Performance, Dame Shirley's first new studio album in 20 years, were provided by Rufus Wainwright, KT Tunstall, Nick Hodgson from the Kaiser Chiefs and Richard Hawley, who were also all in attendance tonight.
Barlow said he didn't enjoy the competition of writing alongside such other artists, and despite his success with Take That, was nervous when presenting his song to Dame Shirley.
''I just wanted to hand in the song on a tape, but producer David Arnold said I had to go and play it for her on the piano, which I really didn't want to do. I was so nervous,'' he said.
He also added he hoped his career would last as long as that of the Cardiff-born star.
''She's 72, and I'm only 38 so I've got a few years left in me I hope. I can definitely imagine still writing songs when I'm the same age as the Dame.''
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